Revolution: aka "Walking Dead Lite"

You may have read a few times here that my sig-other has a rather bad fear of Zombies. She refuses to watch any thing that has Zombies in it...........even if they are cute and cuddly Zombies. I personally didn't understand her (in my mind) irrational fear until one day I realized that by definition every phobia is irrational. I personally am afraid of heights and clowns (not in that order), and to some that probably sounds even stranger than Zombies.

So for years I've lived with watching Zombie-esque entertainment behind closed doors and/or own my own. Until now.

Enter "Revolution" on NBC.

Revolution has all of the ingredients of a Zombie Apocalypse..............except for no Zombies. Simply turn off the power, wait 15+ years, and see what has happened to civilized society. After all, most great Zombie movies have major or minor subplots certered around how bad the still-living humans are and how badly they treat each other.

Finally something I can watch with the sig-other and get somewhat of a Zombie fix! Granted its a little like drinking lite beer when you were hoping for a big bold stout..........but it does still quench my thirst.

The story line is pretty good, and the fact that John Favreau (of "Iron Man" fame) is involved means that the show has some weight behind it. I don't want to give too much away, so check it out for yourself. Watch the first episode and decide for yourself.......maybe after the "mid season finale" of Walking Dead is over next week you'll find yourself looking for a fix and this may just be the ticket.

 

More info can be found here on the official website: http://www.nbc.com/revolution/

Revolution is available on Hulu Plus, and also on NBC On Demand if you subscribe to Time-Warner Cable.

Up next week: We talk about the mid-season finale of Walking Dead.............

Pontypool (2008) : Yet another Canadian surprise

You were probably expecting a review on Resident Evil Extinction, but I decided to take a break from the Resident Evil series to talk about yet another fine Canadian Zombie film: Pontypool.

I watched this movie last week while I was in China early one morning at about 3:00am. My sleep schedule was all messed up, and I decided to watch something that I thought might suck in case I finally became sleepy and didn't catch the ending. I mean, lets face it, there are a lot of bad Zombie flicks out there.

Maybe it was my insomnia, maybe it was the fact that I was sitting alone in a hotel room 8000 miles away from home watching it in the dark............I don't know............but whatever it was, this movie creeped me out. I mean REALLY creeped me out.

The movie almost entirely takes place inside a radio studio, where cowboy-hat-wearing radio talk show host Grant Mazzy has recently began his employment after being fired from another radio station for probably just being himself: an arrogant self-centered guy who drinks whiskey-spiked coffee at 6:00am has no problem finding a way to piss off anyone and everyone he comes in contact with.


Mazzy has a strange encounter with a woman along the road on his way to work, and slowly the strangeness of the day builds to the point where its obvious that something is going terribly wrong in the town of Pontypool, Ontario. As a veteran Zombie fanatic like myself, you'll see the signs early on of a Zombie infection even though it takes awhile for our main characters to catch on, albeit a little late. It takes one of them to get infected to impart the true gravity of the epidemic to our host and his assistant.

"Pontypool" is an extreme departure from your typical Zombie film in several ways. First (and don't be disappointed), you hardly see ANY Zombies. You hear about them in news reports and a few pop up, but for the most part you see less Zombies in this film than the first 5 minutes of your average "Walking Dead" episode. Second, and most important, the Zombie "virus" is not spread by any means that we are used to. It's not airborne. Not in the water. Not spread by touch. Not by bites. I won't give it away but when I finally figured it out and thought about it in detail THAT'S when I really became creeped out..........

I won't give away any more of the plot because if you haven't yet seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to check it out. I ended up watching it a second time during my China trip because there were a few parts I wanted to take a second look at. That should tell you something.

My verdict? On a "Zombie Movie Scale of 1-10" I'd give this one a solid 7.5.

The "less-is-more" style of storytelling, combined with the strange plot-twist and great acting, made this movie very enjoyable and engaging. Even people who aren't Zombie fanatics will like this one. Just don't watch it alone in your hotel room in China at 3:00am.

WATCH IT IF: you, like me, seem to have a thing for Canadian Zombie movies, or are looking for something different. Or are stuck in a hotel in China with the urge to be really freaked out.

DON'T WATCH IT IF: you dislike anything Canadian eh, or are a purist and only like your Zombie movies full of hordes, big guns, and bad acting.

 

Pontypool is available for streaming thru Netflix. It is also available in DVD format from RedBox and Amazon.

More info can be found on IMDB here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226681/

Next Week: If you're reading this, drop me a line and tell me what you would like for me to watch and review......

Resident Evil Apocalypse (2004) : Bad Girls, Big Guns and Bigger Stereotypes

Traveling to China is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I have countless hours on an airplane to catch up on my movies as long as I remember to load them on my tablet. And a curse because the internet here in China SUCKS so I don't get to stream ANYTHING. So if you saw the latest episode of Walking Dead on Sunday, for the love of God, DO NOT speak to me or offer up any spoilers. I have no way of seeing it over here in the land of eternal smog until I get home later this coming weekend.

So on the plane on the way over I caught up on a few Zombie flicks, and the first was "Resident Evil: Apocalypse". I've seen this one before but since its been a long time. Since I just watched the first Resident Evil last week, I figured the sequel was in order.

The movie picks up right where the first one leaves off: Alice awakens in Raccoon City to find it turned into an apocalyptic mess thanks to her seemingly careless ex-coworkers at the Umbrella Corporation. Half the city's inhabitants are already infected and killing the other half, and Umbrella has sealed off the city: planning to clean-up the area with a nuclear incident.

Joining with a group of survivors, Alice makes a deal with an Umbrella scientist who promises to get them out of town as long as they rescue his daughter. Meanwhile Umbrella has its own plans for Alice, involving a seven-foot armour-clad mutant called Nemesis who's using the infested city as a training ground. Mayhem ensues, complete with huge guns and heroines clad in outfits that in the real world wouldn't stay on during such fierce fighting.

Sienna Guillory plays tough-chick super cop Jill Valentine, complete with super short mini-skirt, tailored tube-top, boots and guns. Her character is such a stereotype its actually entertaining, giving Alice a run for the "toughest bitch" award.

Speaking of stereotypes, Mike Epps plays a character that appears to be a cross between a missing Wayans brother and Huggie Bear. Though entertaining at first, I was quickly rooting for him to become a snack.


The rest of the cast does a pretty decent job of acting, although I found myself wishing there were more Zombies and less people that I was supposed to be invested in. As a summer blockbuster action film, which is what I think it was intended to be, this movie does a good job of keeping things moving along at a fast pace and keeping me engaged. But the Zombies play second-fiddle to super-monsters and evil corporations.

My verdict? On a "Zombie Movie Scale of 1-10" I'd give this one a 5

Sadly, it doesn't live up to the original Resident Evil in terms of plot or Zombie content. Thankfully there still plenty of Alice kicking ass in the movie, which ultimately probably saved it for me from being a 3 or 4. I hope the next RE movie gets back to its roots....

WATCH IT IF: you like watching dominant women shooting big guns and generally kicking ass, want to give your home theatre a workout with the several-thousand rounds of gunfire and explosions, or just want something brain-dead (pun intended) to watch and not think about anything.

DON'T WATCH IT IF: you were hoping to see a Zombie-focused movie, think super-corporations are too often demonized and have a chip on your shoulder about it, or are a card-carrying metrosexual and don't like the idea of watching dominant women shooting big guns and generally kicking ass.

"Resident Evil: Apocalypse" is available for streaming thru Amazon Prime and Netflix, and is also available for purchase from many locations.

More info can be found on IMDB here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318627/

Up Next: Resident Evil: Extinction